Emerson Field - Chapel Hill, NC

Originally opened as the "New" Campus Athletic Field, this venue (which is refered to in modern writing as Campus Athletic Field II) was an on-campus playing field used by the University of North Carolina from 1900 through 1914 and again from 1916 through 1926 as Emerson Field; it replaced "Old" Campus Athletic Field (aka Campus Athletic Field I). Class Field temporarily replaced Campus Athletic Field II for the 1915 season while during its conversion to Emerson Field, which remained UNC football's home stadium until its replacement by Kenan Stadium in 1927. The field remained in use for baseball through 1965; in 1967, the field was razed to make way first for Graham Student Union and later Davis Library.

NC State played 3 games at Emerson Field, going 0-2-1 while playing every game as a road team. Two games were canceled, both due to eligibility disputes. The match in 1900 was canceled over UNC's refusal to abide by North Carolina Athletics Association rules, while the 1906 game was canceled after Chapel Hill protested the eligibility of one of NC State's players, following a similar protest by Georgia. Overall, NC State was outscored 6-57 on this field. A capacity for the original grandstands has not been found, however the concrete bleachers sat about 2,400.

Date	Opponent	Time	Ranking	Result	Attendance	Length	Comments
10/6/1900	at North Carolina *		-	N/A	N/A	N/A	UNC refused NC AA rules
10/16/1901	at North Carolina *		-	L, 0 - 39		35 min.
11/16/1904	at North Carolina *	2:30 or 2:55 PM	-	T, 6 - 6	2,000	35 min.
11/10/1906	at North Carolina *		-	N/A	N/A	N/A	Canceled due to eligibility dispute
10/30/1926	at North Carolina	2:30 PM	-	L, 0 - 12	10,000	60 min.

* Non-conference games

Work began on the new Campus Athletic Field in September 1899, with land "being cleared and leveled on the south-eastern part of the campus" [1]. Construction went slow enough, however, that it was not ready in time for baseball season in January, but was ready by the start of the 1900 football season [2] [3]. In 1905, it was announced that funds had been secured to enlarge the field, and while some work was done, it progressed at a slower pace than expected due to an apparent difficulty in contracting workers. This caused a stoppage in work starting late January 1906 so that the field would be in shape for baseball season [4] [5] [6]. An interesting, if inconsequential, note, is that there was a contest to name the as-yet nameless field around the same time as the work pasued; it's not clear which name won, if any, as the results were never published and the field never re-named [7].

The field was used until a large donation was made by alumnus Dr. Isaac Emerson for the construction of a new field on the same location as Campus Field II. The construction of Emerson Field took long enough that the 1915 season's games were played on Class Field, a smaller field which had previously been used for scrimmages or intracollegiate competition [8]. By 1916, the field reopened as Emerson Field, with a large section of bleachers bounding one side of the field. Emerson Field was used by the football team through 1926, and by the baseball team for another 4 decades, but was eventually removed to make way for Davis Library and the student union.

A snipping of the 1915 Sanborn Fire Map of Chapel Hill showing Campus Athletic Field II/Emerson Athletic Field. Note the Gymnasium (Bynum Hall), Law Building (Smith Hall/Playmakers Theatre) and the Carr Building (Henry Owl Building) [16].

Approximate location of Campus Athletic Field II on a modern map of Chapel Hill.

Pictures of Campus Athletic Field II / Emerson Field

Photo showing a football game on what I believe to be a Campus Athletic Field II. The reverse reads "Football U.N.C. about 1904." A second, cropped, copy of this picture, has two captions on the back; the first, crossed out, reads ~~Football game ca. 1904 at old athletic field below Bynum Hall~~ while the replacement text reads "UNC vs Virginia at Norfolk Nov 30 1905." Given that this image also shows the location of the 1905 UNC-UVA game (a well-attended neutral-site game in Norfolk), I think that claim can be summarily dismissed [17]

A photo showing the grandstands in the background, titled on the reverse "1901 - Line-Up Practice. Louis Graves at quarterback" [17]

The fenced side of Campus Athletic Field II before its conversion to Emerson Field, from the 1910 UNC-VMI game [9] [10]

The unfenced side of Campus Athletic Field II, from the 1910 UNC-VMI game [10]

A collage of images showing the 1913 football games against Wake Forest and Virginia Medical College. The building in the background of the Wake Forest image appears to be Bynum Gymnasium, making both images from home games [11]

A picture showing Campus Field II during the 1913 UNC-Wake Forest game. Though UNC and Wake played twice in 1913 (once in Chapel Hill and once in Durham), the reverse of another copy of this picture in Folder 0133 notes that this was during the halftime of the game at Chapel Hill. Note, however, the lack of any sideline fencing, as seen in the first 1910 picture. Perhaps they were temporary in nature? You may be able to see the small bleachers shown in the third image towards the left side of the image, however, it is hard to tell for certain. Also, compare to pictures from the 1911 Wake Forest-USS *Franklin* game here, which has sturdier goal posts [12] [13]

If dated correctly and located in Campus Field II rather than a practice field, this photo of the 1913-14 team matches well with the one above [13]

This image purports to show the 1918 Wake Forest-UNC game, however, it is almost certainly from before the creation of the Emerson Field bleachers [13]

A series of images showing Campus Field II hosting the Eastern NC high school championship game between Raleigh HS and Wilmington HS in 1913 [19]

A photo depicting the non-bleachered side of Emerson Field from 1916 [13]

Emerson Field's bleachers circa 1916 [14]

One of a series of action-shots from a UNC-UVA game. Though it does not say specifically, the stadium bears enough resemblance to Emerson Field to make me confident that this image is from the 1919 game in Chapel Hill [13]

An image showing a detailed view of the side of Emerson Field's bleachers in the background [15]

UNC's starting line-up in 1927 practicing on their former home. Note the baseball scoreboard in the background [18]

[1]	The Tar Heel, September 27th, 1899, p. 1
[2]	The Tar Heel, January 31st, 1900, p. 1
[3]	The Tar Heel, October 17th, 1900, p. 2
[4]	The Tar Heel, March 8th, 1905, p. 1
[5]	The Tar Heel, May 31st, 1905, p. 3
[6]	The Tar Heel, January 25th, 1906, p. 4
[7]	The Tar Heel, January 25th, 1906, p. 2
[8]	The Twin-City Sentinel, October 1st, 1915, p. 4
[9]	Smith Barrier, On Carolina's gridiron, 1888-1936 (1937), p. 46
[10]	Yackety Yack, 1916
[11]	Yackety Yack, 1914
[12]	UNC's Wilson Library collection P0004, Image Box 3 Folder 1050
[13]	UNC's Wilson Library collection P0004, Image Box 3 Folder 0133
[14]	UNC's Wilson Library collection P0077, Image Box IB-P0077/12
[15]	Yackety Yack, 1917
[16]	Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Chapel Hill, 1915, Sheet 4
[17]	UNC's Wilson Library collection P0004, Image Box 3 Folder 0132
[18]	Yackety Yack, 1928, pp. 352, 367
[19]	The Rattler, 1914, pages not numbered

Last updated: 3/17/2024